Cleaning Fish and Fulfilling Promises

Sue and I sat at an outdoor bar in Cortez yesterday, overlooking a dock that's home to a charter fishing boat. When the boat pulled in after a morning on the water, several older people got off, followed by tubs of fish. The guys in the photos above cleaned the fish right on the dock, throwing the heads in the water and other scraps back into a bucket. The filets they kept on the table until they bagged them up and handed them to the customer.

Here are two guys with their catch. Looks like they did OK out there!

Anyway, we were amused watching the fish-cleaners, because they were quickly surrounded by waterbirds including pelicans, egrets and a bossy heron. The pelicans ate most of the fish heads, and every once in a while the guys would throw a scrap to the heron. The egrets were too timid and never seemed to get anything, though we were cheering them on.

Sue and I took a long walk around the island in the morning -- about six miles. (Sue, as I think I mentioned, is a great walker.)

Then, after the stop in Cortez, we ran some fun errands. We went back to a thrift store to pick up a t-shirt for my upstairs neighbors in London. They'd told me their daughter is learning the trumpet (!) and when Sue and I were at the shop on Saturday, I'd seen a shirt that said "I DESTROY SILENCE" with a picture of a trumpet. I sent them a photo of the shirt and my neighbor said, "Buy it!" So I went back for it.

I also picked up a great shirt for myself featuring a bunch of angry sharks, which I somehow missed on our previous visit. Here it is along with a promised picture of the tiger shirt I mentioned in Friday's post.

Here's another promised picture that I finally downloaded off my phone -- a better shot of Pinky II. I laughed at the way she's obscuring my face. (She's very hard to photograph -- she's super-wiggly.) Doesn't she have a weirdly long neck? I told my stepsister she's like a cross between a chihuahua and a llama.

Another photo from my phone -- an inspirational note from my Starbucks barista. What's funny is, she wrote this on my cup Friday morning, before my stepsister and I had to go to the bank and do legal stuff. So I appreciated the boost!

I know this post is kind of a mishmash, but I'd been meaning to use all those photos and didn't have a chance until now. The Octopus light above is from our walk yesterday morning. Don't you love that? Wouldn't really fit in London, though.

Today Sue and I are off on a special birthday road trip (her birthday is tomorrow). We've got a long drive ahead of us! I know it seems crazy to leave a paradise like Anna Maria Island but we thought a little change of scenery might be interesting, and it's just for one night. Stay tuned!